Tom Izzo is in the Breslin Center, coaching basketball. Whether he'll be doing that his fall remains an open question.
The Michigan State SID is saying there are no plans for a decision to be announced today. Believe it or not, the intensity level on this story may be on the verge of stepping up to another level.
The buzz from all the non-sourced sources yesterday started to focus on LeBron James. Lisa Byington of News 6 reported that Izzo has been waiting to talk directly with James. (How much would you pay to eavesdrop on that conversation?) Yahoo's Adrian Wojnarowski's latest piece concurs that James' status with the Cavaliers is, not surprisingly, the key question Izzo is searching for answer on.
Meanwhile, the Plain Dealer's Brian Windhorst says a "high-level source" indicates that James would approve of the Cavaliers hiring Izzo "100 percent." Left unsaid: Is the source at a high level with the Cleveland organization or with LeBron's entourage? If I'm Izzo, the latter is the more important information center at this point.
With nothing approaching a definitive statement coming from the James camp and no sign LeBron intends to re-sign with the Cavs before July 1, it's still very hard to see how all this adds up to a career move that Tom Izzo can make with confidence. But the fact that no decision appears to be forthcoming today signals that Izzo has more than a passing interest in the position in Cleveland. It also means he doesn't have enough information to go ahead and take it.
I guess that adds up to no net impact on the odds that Izzo goes. I'll say 2-1 he stays.
Izzo has every right to take however much time he deems appropriate before making his decision--and there's certainly nothing Mark Hollis can do to accelerate the timeline--but the longer this drags out, the more damage control Izzo will need to do if he decides to stay in East Lansing. The MSU players, recruits, and fanbase will need to be reassured with more than just a token statement that he's fully committed to the program for the indefinite future (we'll accept one NBA dalliance every 10 years).
Of course, the damage control if Izzo does depart for the shores of Lake Erie will be an entirely different exercise.